Table of Contents
SARS and Covid-19
- SARS epidemic of 2002-03 had let loose fear, concern and death in a similar manner like Covid-19.
- Even then, China was slow to acknowledge the epidemic domestically and failed to inform the global community about its possible spread.
Reaction of WHO in 2002-03
- During the SARS epidemic of 2002-03, WHO was quick to recommend travel restrictions and criticise China for delaying the submission of vital information that would have limited the global spread of SARS.
Reaction of WHO in 2002-03
- Even after eradication of SARS, WHO warned that the world would not remain free from other novel forms of the coronavirus.
- The then DG-WHO, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, implored the international community to investigate possible animal reservoirs that could be a source for future outbreaks and better study the movement of the virus to humans.
Reaction of WHO in 2002-03
- China’s wet markets were specifically identified as a likely environment for the virus to incubate and jump from animals to humans.
- The mutable nature of the virus, coupled with China’s rapid urbanisation, proximity to exotic animals and refusal to tackle illegal wildlife trade and commerce were together termed a ‘time bomb’ by a research paper in 2007.
- As late as December 2015, the coronavirus family of diseases was selected to be included in a list of priorities requiring urgent research and development. It was earmarked as a primary contender for emerging diseases likely to cause a major.
Mistake-1: Sluggish Reaction
Jump to December 2019
- Surprisingly: When a pneumonia-like virus was detected in Wuhan in late-December 2019, the WHO, reacted sluggishly.
- Dr Tedros, DG of WHO, applauded China’s “commitment to transparency” in the early days of the epidemic in January.
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Mistake-4: Delayed Response
- Even after being told, the WHO showed no urgency to send an investigative team, careful not to displease the Chinese government.
- A joint WHO-Chinese team went to Wuhan only in mid-February and wrote a report with decidedly Chinese characteristics.
Mistake-5: Misled the World
- The global health body even criticised early travel restrictions by the US as being excessive and unnecessary.
- Covid19 continued to exhibit characteristics of a pandemic, spreading rapidly around the world. Not only did Dr Tedros and his team fail to declare a public health emergency, they urged the international community to not spread fear and stigma by imposing travel restrictions.
Mistake-6: Criticized Preventive Measures
- Following the WHO’s advice, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) suggested that the probability of virus infecting the EU was low, likely delaying more robust border controls by European states.
- The World is Paying the Cost
- Early missteps by the global health body Fatal to thousands around the world will likely adversely affect the lives of millions who now confront a prolonged tragedy economic slowdown.
Mistake-7: Didn’t Learn from Mistakes
- Indeed, the WHO’s response to Ebola was similarly criticised by the international community.
- This is not a first in the WHO’s history. In the 1950s and ’60s, the WHO found itself manoeuvring between the Soviet led Communist bloc and the US.
Mistake-8: Colluding with China
China undermining the IO’s
- China’s growing clout in international organisations is creating new fault lines in global politics, and the WHO has been an early victim.
- Remember, the WHO, led by Margret Chan in 2013, was one of the first international institutions to have signed an MoU with China to advance health priorities under BRI.
China and the WHO’s chief : hold them both accountable for pandemic
- Note: Chan, a Chinese-Canadian, has strong links to the China Mainland. Note: The Ethiopian politician Tedros, was also seen as a Chinese-backed candidate.
- China has not only attempted to censor all official accounts of its early failings but has also employed an overt global disinformation campaign, trying to pinpoint the source of the outbreak as the US or Europe.
A Warning sign for democracies
- The WHO’s collusion with China despite this behaviour should be an immediate warning sign to democracies around the world.
- Over the past decade, Beijing has steadily filled the vacuum in international institutions resulting from the Western democracies, especially the US, cutting funding and participation in these institutions.
- It is an irony of our times that the world’s most potent authoritarian state heads over a quarter of all specialised agencies in the UN, ostensibly the centrepiece of the international liberal order.
Conclusion
- It is an open secret among international diplomats and public health experts that WHO is “not fit for mission”, riddled with politics and bureaucracy. Given its previous failures and the warning that was Sars, its leadership has no excuse for reacting so sluggishly, to the current crisis.
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